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Prophet Muhammad (saw) particularly mentions this surah more than most others.
A remarkable surah that argues on behalf of his companion, until it gets him into heaven.
Before even judgment day begins, when we are in our graves, we are already warded from the fire.
total 6 parts
2nd section is the longest (also unique in its signature)
-more talk of hellfire than talk of heaven
focused more on disbelievers
tension, warning and discourse on disbelievers are more intensified
When the Quran is getting less and less 'soft' in its rhetoric against disbelievers (not just disbelieving but also enemies of Islam)
(1) ١ تَبَارَكَ الَّذِي بِيَدِهِ الْمُلْكُ وَهُوَ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ
Blessed is He in whose hand is dominion, and He is over all things capable
تَبَارَكَ
Baraka = Goodness that increases and becomes permanent (while for most other things/issues, when a good thing grows beyond expectation, more problems occur)
meaning 1) excess in goodness, beyond what is expected, more good came from it than what is expected, enhancing something far beyond expectation
meaning 2) something to become stable, constant, permanent, always lasts
Allah is the only one with the ability to empower goodness into everything
Allah Himself is more than what we expect, in every way (more than our minds can encompass, and this is a constant) Cannot be compared to any other creation.
Our concept of Allah is above our imagination
Eg. Our hope in Allah is beyond our hope in other people
Tabaraka = extremely intensified baraka
Allah doesn't mention His name. He made it a mystery on purpose.
"The one with Whose Hand all the kingdom lies" -> exclusive and all of it
This is for listeners who will not associate it to Allah. but there is no King that isn't challenged and is a constant, stable power.
Mulk = everything grand, power, authority, respect, dignity, ability to legislate, greatness
A human king is not able to have direct control over everything and everyone both Macro-ly and Micro-ly
Qadir = can also mean limit, Allah sets limits to everything else and Allah Himself has no limit
the One who is unlimited Himself can put limits to everything else
the whole line (1) is a statement you make out of emotion, not just stating facts
one should be in awe of Allah
facts employs your mind, statements of emotions employs our hearts. the first ayah already employs both our minds and heart
kingdom and authority is defined by Allah, our shallow definitions disappear
eg. Prophet Musa (as) vs Firaun
our definition of Mulk would be Firaun, but Musa (as) has the true power cos of his loyalty to The King
you have to ask yourself which side of the kingdom do you want to be in
at that time, minority muslims are the one "disrespecting" authority and are the "rebels" in the eyes of society
but Allah is saying that the muslims are the ones who are following authority (the real authority) and the disbelievers are the ones who are the rebels (disrespecting Allah, the true king)
coming from Rasul (saw) who at that time who has no power and nothing in society, challenging their authority to their face
it was very offensive to the Quraysh (cos it says that they are capable of nothing)
it empowers the believer in saying that Allah is behind them
challenges the disbeliever in an aggressive, non apologetic way
(2) ٢ الَّذِي خَلَقَ الْمَوْتَ وَالْحَيَاةَ لِيَبْلُوَكُمْ أَيُّكُمْ أَحْسَنُ عَمَلًا ۚ وَهُوَ الْعَزِيزُ الْغَفُورُ
[He] who created death and life to test you [as to] which of you is better in deed - and He is the Exalted in Might, the Forgiving -
Here is a sampling of what I'm capable of
it is a surah of warning: Allah is capable of giving you death
Allah created death
disbelievers think of death as absence of life, but death is an actual entity on its own, it is a creation of Allah
dunya is one phase that Allah created for me, and death, grave, after death are also created for me
vs the ignorant folks who think death is absence of life and nothing more after that
if Allah created death, that entails that He is beyond it
Allah has absolute control AND will not die (unlike human kings who will die and that's the end of their authority/power, also when they get older, they get less capable)
Allah's power is beyond death and is constant throughout time
you can't think of Allah as any other king
a human can create something and someone else can replicate it, but Allah's creations - life and death - cannot be replicated
what Allah creates is above and beyond whatever you can do
surah Al-Baqarah, the original state of you is death: a drop of semen/earth for Adam (You used to be dead, and you were brought to life)
nothing will get you to get your act together other than the prospect of you dying
so when Allah mentions that He created death, it creates a sense of urgency for the listener, like telling them 'you'd better be obeying the King who can cause you to die before He does it'
Allah is in control of every single death and every single breath of life
not 'no doubt, you are going to die and no doubt, they are going to die'
it is, 'no doubt, you are dying and no doubt, they are dying'
-imagine an hourglass, the sand is going through the gap every second
as we age, some parts of us are constantly dying
where is it that you have life free from this ageing? Akhirah
so what Allah is saying is that He created worldly life which ends in death, and He also created the ultimate life which lasts forever
لِيَبْلُوَكُمْ أَيُّكُمْ أَحْسَنُ عَمَلً So He may test all of you
why is this life a test for the believer? when are we going to know if we pass or fail? only in the next life. if none of the afterlife is of my concern (the disbeliever's point of view), then the worldly life is just here and now and nothing else after (i.e. you can do whatever you want)
the value of what you do comes forward into the next life
just like 'TABARAKA', beyond expectation
after death, beyond your expectation, there is another life
this is one of the biggest samples of Allah's capability beyond expectation
Allah has promised a beautiful thing to all of us, as long as we continue to do good deeds
as long as we become better than who we were yesterday, not necessarily being the best among everyone
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